Walder reacts to Connacht loss
The loss to Connacht in the EPCR Challenge Cup gives the Falcons work to do next Saturday at home to Cardiff, with Walder saying: “We showed endeavour, attitude and spirit but we just lacked a bit of accuracy.
“At half-time I wouldn’t say we were comfortable with where we were, but we felt there were a couple of fixable areas for us to come back and apply more pressure in the second half.
“Some of our skills let us down, and we weren’t able to get that momentum to put Connacht under pressure and get that dominance.
“We kept battling away for that losing bonus point but we weren’t quite able to do it, and Connacht are a good team – especially in Galway.
“We defended well in patches, because we had to, but ultimately it was a disappointing evening.”
The head coach added: “Some of our younger lads did well, and put up their hands.
“Tom Marshall showed a level of physicality which we haven’t always seen, and we stayed in the fight. We stayed together as a team, and you can’t question the guys’ effort.
“A lot of our supporter had a great degree of transport chaos to get here – those who were able to – and it’s a shame we couldn’t reward them with the win.
“The lads went over to thank our travelling fans after the game, which is only right and proper, because those guys put such an incredible effort into travelling long distances and supporting us.
“We really appreciate their backing, and we’re very grateful to have that behind us.”
Moving to next weekend’s home assignment, Walder said: “We’re looking forward to hosting Cardiff, and we always relish playing in front of our supporters.
“The way the tournament format is this season means there are a lot of matches with plenty riding on them, and next weekend is no different.”
